CAFARELLI,THE GREAT MEZZO-SOPRANO CASTRATO

MAJORANO, Gaetano (CAFARELLI)- lithograph by Stuppi 7 x 9" of the mezzo soprano castrato who took the name of his sponsor Dominco Cafarelli as his stage name. A Porpora pupil he quickly emerged as a leading singer in all the major opera centers creating Handel's "Serse" in London in 1738. He was an outrageous personality mimicking his colleagues, singing his own versions of music and talking with the public while others sang

CAFARELLI,IL CASTRATO----THE STAR OF ITALIAN CASTRATO

Gaetano Majorano (12 April 1710 – 31 January 1783) was an Italian castrato and opera singer, who took his stage name Caffarelli from Domenico Caffaro, his patron. Like Farinelli, Caffarelli was a student of Nicola Porpora.

Caffarelli's voice was that of a mezzo-soprano, with an extensive range and a high tessitura. Those who heard him sing ranked him only behind Farinelli among the finest singers of that time. Even at the end of his career, Burney thought that he had been "an amazing fine singer". His teacher, Porpora, who (according to Burney) loathed Caffarelli's overweening arrogance, nonetheless claimed that he was "the greatest singer Italy had ever produced".